Sounds like a great up bringingMine not so interesting... Born in Joeys and was there for 20 odd years We as children used to explore the northcliff hills( did you know there are caves there ) and the old disused mines in Strubens valley Riding our bikes to Little Falls We caught the train to krugerdorp and then walked home via a place called Retiefs Kloof I wonder if it still exists in its pristine condition.I was not the great acedemic .. just scraped through Matric .. was very lazy I think . Too busy with the 1st hockey team and Ballet !!! No they dont really go together . Went to Wits ... joined the choir and met the SO But then went to the Cape to do nursing came back married then moved to Umhlanga .was there forever and then Joined the forum !!!!Now "retired in the Cape I wont go into the story of all my cousins and aunties I will be here for ever !!!!

I was born in Johannesburg Schooled in Johannesburg. tertiary education in Johannesburg Boring! Moved to Cape Town for 1 year in my early twenties and then to east London for a year and returned to Johannesburg There (or rather here ) I re-met the man I'm married to for 26 years today! RE-met because we were at nursery school primary school and high school together We live in the same suburb our parents did and our 2 kids went to the same schools we did! I suppose my roots are Johannesburg. But during all this living in the big evil city, we have always managed at least 1 trip a year to the bush. Usually Kruger, but we do go to other national parks and to reserves in other southern African countries. Like all 'druggies" I need a regular fix

"In the end we conserve only that which we love, we love only that which we understand, we understand only that which we are taught" (Baba Dioum, Senegalese Ecologist)

I was born in Bothaville, moved to Bronkhorstspruit (better known aas Dronkwordspruit) situated, 59km form Pretoria and 62km from Witbank (sommer smack in the middle) and it is also well known for the buddah temple. I lived in the small town of aprox 10 000 for my whole childhood basically and when I was finished with high school I moved to Pretoria to go study at the University, now I have been in Pretoria for a good 10 years now and soon (I hope) I'm gonna make the Kruger my home I'm finished with my studies end of this year and I want to apply to teach at Skuks (don't know how-gonna worm myself in there somewhere cause I studied EMS and that is only for high school ) Hope that there are some peeps here that would give me good recommendations

I was born in Durban and did all my schooling there. Then University nursing degree which saw me moving between Pietermaritzburg and Durban. After that Maputa (near Kosi Bay) for 3 years, then Zambia for 6 years. Moved to UK and spent time in New Forest, Nottingham, Leicester, few months in Norwich, and then Cornwall (involved in Neonatal Intensive Care throughout). Returned to SA in 2005, bought a house at Marloth.......and the rest is forum history!

My roots? I am lucky to be able to put down roots and feel at home wherever I am - so currently KNP!

Smiling is contagious. Start an epidemic today!

Have you read the entrance permit? Do you KNOW the Conditions of Entry?

Born and bred in Durban, did my schooling there and also my nursing training, married there, and then due to SO's job and transfers, we moved around starting with Kokstad where 3 of the children were born, Jock and my twins, then a short stint in Rustenburg and another 4 years in Ermelo where our first visits and love of Kruger started.Then in 1984 we moved back to our home town of Durban where we have lived happily ever since. Now retired we have recently moved to an estate just north of Ballito on the KZN North coast, a whole half an hour closer to Kruger!

I was born and bred in a tiny village near Ulverston in Lancashire. The county borders moved and it's now in Cumbria. I left to go to university in Stirling in central Scotland, where I studied English and teaching. I moved back here when I graduated.

I now live about 20 minutes from Windermere and on the edge of the Lake District National Park, which is lovely but I have to say there's another National park I'd rather be living next to!!!!

When I'm not in the Park, I'm thinking of it...Bittersweet Return to Paradise TR - Aug 2011

I was born here in Naracoorte in the south east of South Australia and have been here ever since including my schooling. I didn't do my BSc until I was in my mid thirties and I had to do it externally and flying back and forth to Sydney several times a year.Naracoorte is only a small town of about 5000 people. It is very much a conservative farming town but farming has come a long way in the last 20 years with a lot of diversification and much bigger properties than before. It is also in the middle of one of Australia's biggest wine producing areas. The other very big employer is the export abattoir here (beef) which 'processes' 850 head of cattle a day. Five years ago the town was very mono-cultural. Now we have a large Afghan community and also many people from China, Korea, Vietnam and Laos and Thailand. The day the Asian grocery store opened I nearly threw a party!! I am very much a 'local' and shop owners and my customers know me by first name but I don't think I ever fit the mould here and do not have any close contacts or friends in the community bar two long term 'horsey' friends I see once a week for lunch and my employer and her family whom I am very close and loyal to. My ancestors on my fathers side were amongst the first non-convict settlers in Tasmania from Scotland and England. On my mothers side they were also English and came out to South Australia very early after settlement.Some of the time I dream of getting out of this place where everyone knows me and my history and of starting somewhere else but I love our property and what we have made of it. So I just work towards being more self sufficient so I can stay here in splendid isolation more of the time!

I spent much of my childhood in what was a tiny "dorp", Olifantsfontein. I loved to roam the dusty, untarred streets, looking for adventure. It was the most fun going barefoot. Summer was spent swimming in the club pool while parents drank "gin and tonic" in the club house. I once thought that "Gordons Gin" was named in honour of my father.

My grandmother was banned from the cubhouse but that is another story.

The forbidden areas were the most exciting. This included the quarry, the graveyard, what we called "Blikkiesfontein" and the bush.

We also found a hole in the fence around the brick refractory and would spend hours playing "spy-spy" in gaint ceramic pipes. My father once caught me. He was an engineer in the refractory. That was one of the many hidings I remember, resulting from my many adventures.

We had our fresh milk delivered by horse and cart. One of my favourite memories was to climb out of bed and be the first one to drink the cream off the top of the freshly delivered milk. I would hear the "clop-clop" on the dirt road long before the "clink-clink" of the milk bottles.

My most humiliating experience was arriving home and finding a laughing crowd around my home. Our brack, Tramp, mainly Border Collie, was busy impregnating a young bitch just come into season. While Tramp lived, many dogs looked half border collie Tramp was the father of many nations.

It was a childhood rich in imagination. The radio was the most important centre of evening entertainment. "Death touched my shoulder" sent chills down my spine.

I have a great need for freedom. I hate fences, I hate walls, I hate rules that serve no purpose. Inside, there is still the barefooted imp, seeking adventure.

The bird doesn't sing because it has answers, it sings because it has a song.

Eliz, when I met my wife she was living in Little Falls...having grown up in the Krugersdorp/Roodepoort area all her life. Her folks and sister still live in the area, in Noordheuwel. That area must've changed somewhat since your growing up there!!

As for me, born at Vincent Pallotti Nursing home in Pinelands. Shortly after that it became a mental hospital, but I'm assured that's simply a coincidence! Spent the first 16 months or so of my life living in a flat in Tamboerskloof, before my parents moved to Bothasig (which is between Goodwood and Milnerton for those unfamiliar with the lesser-known areas), where we lived for 4 years (to the day). Moved to Brackenfell where I did all my schooling. Lived with my parents full time until about the age of 25, when I decided it was time to get some freedom in my life, so moved to my own flat (also in Brackenfell), where I stayed until I got married (tomorrow it's 5 years ago). Later that year we decided that for 1 person the flat may have been fine, but for a couple not so good, and definitely no good for kids, so we bought a house in, you guessed it, Brackenfell (4 and a half years ago now).

What can I say? I like the area...and the commute to Bellville and Plattekloof isn't all that bad (not that I work in Bellville at the moment, but I did when we bought the house, and will again in a little over a year - the CBD is temporary).

As for my roots, I'm going to go with South Africa. The diversity that this country has is simply unmatched anywhere else in the world. And to me, it's all equally beautiful. So much so that I decided many years ago that I did not need to see any other country anywhere in the world until I had fully explored this land of my birth. To date, I have not yet completed that mission (although I am a whole lot closer now than I was 10 years ago), so overseas travel will have to wait a while still. I have never been to the KTP, I have never extensively toured the far north of the country, and there are still large areas of KZN that need a visit one day. I have a dream of taking a road trip one day starting at Cape Town, heading up the South Coast past PE and Durban, from there up the coast to eventually end up in Kruger, all the way up that until the highest possible gate out, from there down to Joburg, and from there to KTP, Upington and down the West Coast home. It's a long way to drive, but what you will see along the way will make it worthwhile. Ideally, I'd love to do it without a time schedule either, but I think that may be pushing things...

I was born and brought up in Edinburgh, Scotland. I spent the first years of my life in aprefab near the Firth of Forth ... So although we were not allowed we used to go scavenging and riding 'pretend' horses along the beach, if my ma of dad had only known eh..... We movedto a council flat when I was about 9 or 10 and we missed our freedom, although my dad had agreat garden for scrummping his strawberries !!! My family on my dads side were originally fromLithuania and my granny & her friends used to still talk the language so we could not understandthem.I moved to South Africa in the 70s were I lived in Hillbrow.!!!!! worked in Bramfontien andmet and married my SO a Londoner . We return to the UK after we got married our honeymoon was on theWindsor Castle sailing from Cape Town ( sound romantic but we had an inside cabin with bunk beds)Settled here Nr. London. I think my roots are very much Scottish.. Although I still kiss the ground ifand when I visit SA. favourite place of course is the Kruger

Like Heksie, I was born in Bothaville (maar sy vrou wil nie) Grew up on a farm called Mooifontein, on the banks of the Vals river. This is where my love for nature started. Weekends I woke up at about 06h00, raided the freezer for something to braai. Then it was me, the .22 rifle and the dog called Oupa. We would stroll along the river and look for a Guinea fowl or two to shoot which my mother used to make the most delicious pies. I only came back to the farm house when it started getting dark.

I remember 'stealing' a packet of meat to braai, but at about 13h00, much to my dismay, I discovered that it was a bag of soup bones.

After school, it was my time to join 'Korporaal Magnus and Sons' (army) Spent 1 year at Voortrekkerhoogte and 1 year in Potch, at a base called 'Klipdrift' (I liked this name) I did a survival course at the Letaba Ranch, just north of Phalaborwa but were kept so occupied that I did not have the time to enjoy nature. During this time, I visited Duits Wes Afrika a couple of times, free of charge, with the compliments of Korporaal Magnus. Oshakati, Ondangwa, Oshivelo (Oshiterrible) and all those places.